UNPA,Left to coordinate in and outside Parliament beyond N-Deal

Published: Thursday, October 25, 2007, 16:52 [IST]

Subscribe to Oneindia News

New Delhi, Oct 25 (UNI) The UNPA and the Left parties today agreed to coordinate both in and outside Parliament, as part of a wider strategy to take on the UPA government on various national issues, mainly the Indo-US Nuclear deal, welfare of minorities and agrarian crisis.

The UNPA leaders today visited the headquarters of the CPI(M) and the CPI to give a boost to the Left parties' campaign against the nuclear deal.

On Monday, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat visited Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh's residence and held lengthy meetings with UNPA key players Chandrababu Naidu, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Om Prakash Chautala. Mr Karat agreed to evolve a common approach in Parliament where a debate is expected to be held on the N-deal during the winter session.

A day after UNPA convenor Chandrababu Naidu's meeting with CPI leaders A B Bardhan and D Raja, UNPA Chairman Mulayam Singh Yadav and spokesperson Amar Singh drove to the AK Goplan Bhawan and Ajoy Bhawan to extend ''complete support'' to the Left parties on their position on the deal.

Mr Prakash Karat told UNI that they discussed the N-deal in continuance with his meeting with UNPA leaders.

The UNPA leaders paid a visit to Mr Karat this morning while they drove to the Ajoy Bhawan, the CPI headqaurters this noon.

During the hour-long meeting with Mr Bardhan, Mr Yadav, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and the SP general secretary said the UNPA will completely support the Left parties on the nuclear deal.

According to CPI National Secretary Shamim Faizi, they also broached the wider issue of foreign policy that is continuoulsy drifting towards the US. They said the UPA government should also be cornered on issues like Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr Faizi said the UNPA leaders assured that they would try to come out with a draft policy statement covering the economic policies, the agrarian crisis and welfare of the minorities at their Vijayawada rally on November 24.

At the end of the meeting with the CPI leaders, Mr Yadav reiterated that the common understanding and approach had been evolved between both the sides.

''Even on other important national issues, we will coordinate in and outside Parliament,'' the SP chief said.

Mr Bardhan said UNPA leaders Mr Naidu and Mr Amar Singh would join the CPI rally here on October 30, while he would address the UNPA rally in Vijayawada on November 24.

Even as the Left leaders refused to admit that the exercise is moving towards the revival of the Third Front, political observers believe it is definite that both the sides have come closer.

The Left is said to be more comfortable taking the support of non-BJP and non- Congress parties like the SP and the TDP even though the CPI and the SP had parted ways in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls and the TDP had allied with the BJP at the Centre.

The Left leaders have conveyed to the UNPA leaders to let them first launch joint struggles on people's issues.

But the Congress has not taken kindly to the Left and the UNPA joint meetings at this juncture. AICC Media Department Chairman Veerappa Moily has reportedly said the Communists were unnecessarily becoming ''desperate'' even though the government was responding to their concerns through a joint mechanism, which he hoped, would find a solution.

The UPA-Left Political Panel is scheduled to hold its sixth meeting here on November 16.